Jack Lehtinen, an MFA candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, recently closed his solo exhibition "In the Lab: Poking Fun" at the Krasl Art Center in Michigan. The interactive installation critiques AI's impact on physical and social interaction, using a wall-mounted plotter to generate random lines inspired by surrealist automatic drawing, which Lehtinen then completes by hand with crayons. He credits his mentor, Dr. Nathaniel Stern, for helping him secure the show, which opened alongside Stern's concurrent exhibition and drew over 200 attendees.
This exhibition matters because it highlights how early-career artists are engaging critically with artificial intelligence in their work, blending digital and manual processes to question AI's role in art and society. Lehtinen's success as a graduate student landing a solo show at a respected venue underscores the importance of mentorship and dedicated studio practice in navigating the contemporary art world.